Tourist entries from Thailand plummet amid political turmoil
Friday, October 10 2008 @ 01:28 PM ICT
Contributed by: News
As anti-government mobs wreak havoc on Bangkok, tourists are turning to Vietnam as an entry point to Cambodia, officials say....As anti-government mobs wreak havoc on Bangkok, tourists are turning to Vietnam as an entry point to Cambodia, officials say.
Political instability in Thailand has led fewer tourists to use the country as an entry point to Cambodia, with foreigners now choosing to instead go through Vietnam, tourism officials say.
"Since the former Thai prime minister put Bangkok under emergency rule, foreigners
have been canceling trips to Bangkok. Many are re-routing to Malaysia and Vietnam before flying to Siem Reap," said Kousoum Saroeuth, secretary of state for the Ministry of Tourism.He said the number of flights and road arrivals from Vietnam has increased since fighting between Thai police and the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) broke out earlier this week.
He added that more Western tourists are visiting Cambodia, but that tourism in Thailand had fallen by 30 percent.
Kousoum Saroeuth also said the Ministry of Tourism has reassured Western and Asian tourists that Cambodia and Thailand will not go to war over the Preah Vihear temple dispute, which began in July.
"We have run advertisements on CNN, and world travelers know that Cambodia is a safe place to visit," he said. He added that Cambodia aims to see 2.3 millions visitors by late 2008 - an increase of 13 percent over last year.